1 Chronicles 29:7

And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) And gave . . . of gold.—And they gave . . . gold, five thousand talents; between thirty and forty millions sterling (!).

Ten thousand drams.—Rather, Darics. The Daric (Greek, Δαρεικὸς) was a Persian gold coin, value about £1 2s., first struck by the great Darius, son of Hystaspes (B.C. 521-485). It remained current in Western Asia long after the fall of the Persian Empire. The Hebrew word (’ădarkônîm) occurs again only once, viz., at Ezra 8:27, where it clearly means Darics, and is so rendered by the Syriac (dărîkûnê). The darkôn (or darbôn) is mentioned in the Talmud as a Persian coin. The chronicler, or his authority, has evidently substituted a familiar modern term for some ancient expression of value. No real coins are mentioned in Scripture before the age of the exile.

Silver ten thousand talents.—About £4,000,000 in modern value (see 1Kings 10:21; 1Kings 10:27); or, according to Schrader, who argues from Assyrian data, £3,750,000. The value of the bronze and the iron must have been much greater then than now. (See Note on 1Chronicles 22:14.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

29:1-9 What is done in works of piety and charity, should be done willingly, not by constraint; for God loves a cheerful giver. David set a good example. This David offered, not from constraint, or for show; but because he had set his affection to the house of God, and thought he could never do enough towards promoting that good work. Those who would draw others to good, must lead the way themselves.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The word here translated "dram" is regarded by most critics as the Hebrew equivalent of the Persian "daric," or ordinary gold coin, worth about 22 shillings of British money (circa 1880's). Not, however, that the Jews possessed darics in David's time: the writer wished to express, in language that would be intelligible to his readers, the value of the gold subscribed, and therefore he translated the terms employed in his documents, whatever they were, into terms that were in use in his own day. The doric became current in Palestine soon after the return from the captivity Ezra 2:69; Ezra 8:27; Nehemiah 7:70-72.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. drams—rather, darics, a Persian coin, with which the Jews from the time of the captivity became familiar, and which was afterwards extensively circulated in the countries of Western Asia. It is estimated as equal in value to 25s. of British currency.

of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron—In Scripture, iron is always referred to as an article of comparatively low value, and of greater abundance and cheaper than bronze [Napier].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And gave for the service of the house of God,.... For building and adorning it, and providing proper utensils for it:

of gold five thousand talents; which, according to Scheuchzer (l), came to 61,100,000 ducats of gold: and these, with "the 10,000 drachms"; make of our money, according to Brerewood (m), 22,507,500 pounds; some reckon a drachm at two ducats and a half, and somewhat more (n):

and of silver ten thousand talents; which, according to the former writer, amounted to 450,000,000 imperials, or rix dollars; and, according to the latter, they made of our money 3,750,000 pounds:

and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron; the weight of each of which were so much.

(l) Ut supra. (Physica Sacra, vol. 4. p. 631.) (m) Ut supra. (Physica Sacra, vol. 4. p. 631.) (n) Eisenschmidius apud Scheuchzer. ib. p. 635.

Geneva Study Bible

And gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. five thousand talents] i.e. of uncoined gold by weight.

ten thousand drams] R.V. ten thousand darics. A daric was a Persian gold coin worth about 22 shillings. The translation of A.V. drams (i.e. drachmæ) may however be right. The value of a gold drachma is about 9s. 5d. The total sum given in this verse sounds impossibly large; cp. 1 Chronicles 22:14, note.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - The Authorized Version translation drams occurs also twice in Ezra and twice in Nehemiah. There is no doubt that the coin referred to is the Persian daric, with which the Jews became familiar during the time of their exile. The Hebrew word appears in three different forms.

1. As אֲדַרְכְּמון; here and Ezra 8:27.

2. As דַּרְכְּמון; Ezra 2:69; Nehemiah 7:70-72.

3. As דַּכְרוֹן; in rabbinical writings, but not in Scripture.

Respecting the possible derivations of the words in the first and second forms, see Gesenins's 'Lexicon,' sub voce, and Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible' (2nd edit., p. 181). The obverse of the coin shows the image of a king, with bow and spear. The value of the coin is variously computed at thirteen shillings and sixpence or twenty. two shillings and sixpence. Keil suggests that the mention of darics as well as talents in this verse may point to some of the gold being contributed in the shape of coin instead of talents-weight. This does not seem likely, however, because, of course, the daric itself was not in use in Jerusalem in David's time, and any gold coin that was then in use might have received mention on its own account, even if translated also into the daric. The Septuagint translates in this verse merely by the word χρυσοῦς, the Vulgate by solidos. Under any circumstances, the coin is to be distinguished from the δραχνή. Specimens of the daric, both in gold and silver, exist in the Paris and Vienna Museums. The Hebrew word for the ten thousand preceding the so-called drams of this verse is the word for "myriad" (רִבּו, a shortened form of רבּות), found also in Ezra 2:64; Nehemiah 7:66; Daniel 11:12; Jonah 4:11. 1 Chronicles 29:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The princes follow the example, and willingly respond to David's call. האבות שׂרי equals האבות ראשׁי, 1 Chronicles 24:31; 1 Chronicles 27:1, etc. הם מלאכת ולשׂרי, and as regards the princes of the work of the king. The למּלך וּמקנה רכוּשׁ שׂרי, 1 Chronicles 28:1, the officials enumerated in 1 Chronicles 27:25-31 are meant; on ל see on 1 Chronicles 28:21. They gave 5000 talents of gold (22 1/2 or 11 1/2 millions of pounds), and 1000 darics equals 11 1/2 millions of pounds. אדרכּון, with א prosth. here and in Ezra 8:27, and דּרכּמון, Ezra 2:69; Nehemiah 7:70., does not correspond to the Greek δραχμή, Arab. dirhem, but to the Greek δαρεικός, as the Syrian translation derîkônā', Ezra 8:27, shows; a Persian gold coin worth about 22s. 6d. See the description of these coins, of which several specimens still exist, in Cavedoni bibl. Numismatik, bers. von A. Werlhof, S. 84ff.; J. Brandis, das Mnz-Mass und Gewishtssystem in Vorderasien (1866), S. 244; and my bibl. Archol. 127, 3. "Our historian uses the words used in his time to designate the current gold coins, without intending to assume that there were darics in use in the time of David, to state in a way intelligible to his readers the amount of the sum contributed by the princes" (Bertheau). This perfectly correct remark does not, however, explain why the author of the Chronicle has stated the contribution in gold and that in silver in different values, in talents and in darics, since the second cannot be an explanation of the first, the two sums being different. Probably the sum in darics is the amount which they contributed in gold pieces received as coins; the talents, on the other hand, probably represent the weight of the vessels and other articles of gold which they brought as offerings for the building. The amount contributed in silver is not large when compared with that in gold: 10,000 talents equals 3,500,000, or one half that amount. The contribution in copper also, 18,000 talents, is not very large. Besides these, those who had stones, i.e., precious stones, also brought them. אתּו הנּמצא, that was found with him, for: that which he (each one) had of stones they gave. The sing. אתּו is to be taken distributively, and is consequently carried on in the plural, נתנוּ; cf. Ew. 319, a. אבנים is accus. of subordination. יד על נתן, to give over for administration (Ew. 282, b). יחיאל, the Levite family of this name which had the oversight of the treasures of the house of God (1 Chronicles 26:21.).